To think out loud: what can policy commissions achieve? – Policy Options

Has the work and legacy of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission been able to meaningfully shift Canadians’ views of reconciliation and its truths?

Allan Blakeney once reached for a popular drug-store pain reliever to describe the purpose of official commissions of inquiry. He said Canadians see them as a sort of Minard’s liniment – a general-purpose remedy for whatever ails the body politic.

Blakeney was a former premier of Saskatchewan who served with me as a commissioner on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples 1991-96.

Read More: https://policyoptions.irpp.org/2025/11/reconciliation-policy-commissions/